My food is "just"! Just meaning honest, no bullshit! It is also easy to prepare, you don't need to be a pro to cook my recipes - and most important: its all about taste - they are delicious.

For the past twenty years, I have been travelling across Asia, Africa and the Americas, collecting amazing impressions on the local foods of so many different cultures. In my recipes, you will find those influences and flavors which I collected during all those years.

Barbieri? That was my great grandmother - she was a star in the kitchen. Why I named this blog after her? Well, her name just sounds better.

As I am travelling a lot, you will find suggestions of restaurants on this blog as well.

Jan 13 banana-chocolate power bars

Don’t we all try to be a bit more healthy in January after abusing with alcohol and food during the festive season? Well I do! A lot of work-out, a more healthy lifestyle with sport and outdoor activities, and of course healthy food! I don’t eat sweets in January and reduce my unhealthy eating by ignoring fried pork, tons of mayonnaise and double creamed desserts.

These healthy oat bars are the perfect snack for in-between meals or before working out. All these things I never eat during the year are packed in this bar: Oats, chia seeds, healthy nuts, bananas and a bit of dark chocolate. The sweetener is made of dates, and a little bit of honey. So these are good for vegans as well, just leave out the honey.

Let’s get fit!

Ingredients for a weekly ration:

300g oats

200g dates

1 TBS runny honey

1 TS cinnamon

100g Goji berries

100g cashew nuts (whole)

3 TBS chia seeds

100g of seeds mix (pumpin, flax, nuts, whatever you like)

100g of dark chocolate, crushed into small pieces

2 ripe bananas, smashed with a fork

Directions:

Pit the dates and tear into pieces with your fingers, its sticky and takes some time, but you have to go through that. Put into a pan, add the cinnamon, add two cups of water and heat for about 10 minutes, always stirring a bit, until you get a sticky, creamy liquid. Set aside.

Mix all the other ingredients of the above list, including the sticky dates and liquid in a big bowl, then spread onto a baking tray covered with baking paper. Bake in the oven at 160 degrees for 30 -35 minutes. Let cool down completely and cut with a big knife into bars or chunks, however you like it.